Impact of FRET between Molecular Aggregates and Quantum Dots

Energy transfer has been employed in third‐generation solar cells for the conversion of light into electrical energy. Long‐range nonradiative energy transfer from semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to fluorophores has been demonstrated by using CdS QDs and thiophene?BODIPY (boron dipyrromethene, abbreviated as TG2). TG2 shows a broad photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, which varies with concentration. At very low concentrations, monomeric units are present; then, upon increasing the concentration, these monomers form a mixed (J‐/H‐)aggregated state. Energy transfer between the CdS QDs and TG2 was confirmed by separately investigating the interactions between CdS and the monomer of TG2 and between CdS and the aggregated states of TG2. Size‐dependent PL quenching confirmed that nonradiative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from photoexcited CdS QDs to the J‐aggregate state of TG2 was the major energy‐relaxation channel, which occurred on the timescale of hundreds of fs. These results have broad applications in the field of light harvesting based on the assembly of molecular aggregates.     

Selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde, 1‐phenylethanol to acetophenone and fluorene to fluorenol catalysed by iron (II) complexes supported by pincer‐type ligands: Studies on rapid degradation of organic dyes

Hexacoordinated non‐heme iron complexes [Fe^II(L¹)₂](ClO₄)₂ ( 1 ) and [Fe^II(L²)₂](PF₆)₂ ( 2 ) have been synthesized using ligands L¹ = (E)‐2‐chloro‐6‐(2‐(pyridin‐2ylmethylene) hydrazinyl)pyridine and L² = (E)‐2‐chloro‐6‐(2‐(1‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl) pyridine]. These complexes are highly active non‐heme iron catalysts to catalyze the C (sp³)?H bonds of alkanes. These iron complexes have been characterized using ESI?MS analysis and molecular structures were determined by X‐ray crystallography. ESI ? MS analysis also helped to understand the generation of intermediate species like Fe^III?OOH and Fe^IV=O. DFT and TD?DFT calculations revealed that the oxidation reactions were performed through high‐valent iron center and a probable reaction mechanism was proposed. These complexes were also utilized for the degradation of orange II and methylene blue dyes.     

Bis(2-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)-pyridine)copper(II): Effects of counteranions on the molecular and supramolecular structures

The synthesis and physical properties of bis(2-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)-pyridine)copper(II) with chloride, nitrate and perchlorate as counteranions have been described. Microanalysis, magnetic susceptibility, conductivity and various spectroscopic measurements have been used for the characterization of the complexes. The crystal structures of all three complexes have been determined. Intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions and the resulting self-assembly patterns for each of the species have been scrutinized. The chloride containing complex crystallizes as a trihydrate, where the metal ion is in a tetragonally elongated cis-N₄Cl₂ coordination sphere. This complex provides a three-dimensional honeycomb-like structure through N–H?Cl, O–H?Cl and O–H?O hydrogen bonds. In the nitrate containing species, one of the two counteranions coordinates to the metal centre to provide an irregular N₄O₂ coordination sphere, while the other counteranion, with the help of a lattice water molecule, assembles a ladder-like structure via N–H?O and bifurcated O–H?O,O hydrogen bonds. A one-dimensional polymeric species has been formed when perchlorate is the counteranion. Here one of the two perchlorates acts as a bridge between the metal centres that are in tetragonally elongated trans-N₄O₂ coordination spheres. This polymeric chain, together with the second perchlorate and a water molecule, form a ribbon-like structure due to N–H?O and O–H?O hydrogen bonds.     

Naphthyridine-based receptors for flurometric detection of urea and biotin

Naphthyridine-based receptors 1–4 have been designed and synthesized for the recognition of urea in CHCl₃ containing 1% CH₃CN. Receptor 1 also binds biotin and its methyl ester with moderate binding constant values. In comparison, receptor 2 is less efficient in recognising biotin and its methyl ester analogue. Receptor 1 binds urea and biotin with binding constant values of 1.02 × 10⁴ and 1.08 × 10⁴ M^?1, respectively, in CHCl₃ containing 1% CH₃CN and shows significant change in emission of naphthyridine upon complexation. Characterization and sensing properties of the receptors were evaluated by ¹H NMR, UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopic methods.     

Early effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on Mac-1 and ICAM-1 expression on mouse peritoneal macrophages

Effect of M. tuberculosis infection was studied on the expression of intercellular adhesion molocule-1 (ICAM-1) and Mac-1 markers on murine peritoneal macrophages. Intraperitoneal administration of M. tuberculosis resulted in a marked increase in the proportion of Mac-1(+) cells whereas the proportion of ICAM-1(+) cells declined sharply 4 h post infection. Absolute numbers of Mac-1(+) and ICAM-1(+) cells however increased at all time points after the infection. Comparison of kinetics of changes observed in Mac-1(+) and ICAM-1(+) cell populations with differential leukocyte counts in peritoneal cells indicated that these alterations could be due to cellular influx, especially that of neutrophils, or up regulation of these markers on macrophages and other peritoneal cells. In adherent peritoneal macrophages infected in vitro with M. tuberculosis, proportion of Mac-1(+) and ICAM-1(+) cells increased markedly within 24 h of infection. Mean expression of these markers on per cell basis also increased significantly. Similar results were obtained by using RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cell line, suggesting that the enhanced expression of Mac-1 and ICAM-1 markers was a direct effect of M. tuberculosis infection and not mediated by contaminating cell types present in adherent macrophage preparations. Mac-1 and ICAM-1 expression was further studied on macrophages that had actually engulfed M. tuberculosis and compared with bystander macrophages without intracellular M. tuberculosis. For this purpose M. tuberculosis pre-stained with DilC18 fluorescent dye were used for infecting adherent peritoneal macrophages. Mac-1 and ICAM-1 expression on gated DilC18 positive and negative cell populations was analyzed. Our results indicate that the expression of Mac-1 and ICAM- 1 markers was significantly enhanced on all macrophages incubated with M. tuberculosis but was more pronounced on macrophages with internalized mycobacteria. Taken together, our results suggest that the expression of Mac-1 and ICAM-1 markers is significantly up regulated as a result of exposure and infection with M. tuberculosis. Since these markers play important role in the uptake of mycobacteria as well as in the process of antigen presentation by macrophages, their upregulation may be beneficial for generation of a protective immune response to M. tuberculosis.     

The effect of N2O on the isotopic composition of air-CO2 samples

The ionisation efficiencies of N2O vs. CO2 as well as their ratios were measured in detail introducing clean N2O and CO2 into the electron impact ion source of an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Changes in the ionisation efficiency ratio (IER) were found for different electron energy settings and compared with the ratios of literature ionisation cross-section values for pure N2O and CO2. To establish the influence of mixtures of N2O and CO2 in a mass spectrometer, artificial air mixtures were prepared by mixing different amounts of N2O and CO2 from well-calibrated spike cylinders with CO2-free air. The mixing ratios varied from 8-512 ppb for N2O and from 328-744 ppm for CO2. With these mixtures the effects of varying N2O concentrations on apparent CO2 isotope ratios in air samples were determined. After applying a mass balance correction the delta13C results were consistent within small error margins. The data seemed almost independent from a particular choice for the IER of N2O vs. CO2 in the correction algorithm. For delta18O a small effect of the ionisation efficiency ratio of N2O vs. CO2 was found. Several sets of calculations were made varying the IER between 0.88 and 0.62. The dependence of delta18O was the smallest with an adopted IER of 0.68-0.72 in the mass balance correction equation for isotopic analysis of CO2 in air. For high-precision measurements of the CO2 stable isotope ratios in air samples a careful assessment of the mass spectrometer performance is necessary. Different ion sources, even different ion source settings, alter the IER of N2O vs. CO2 which is used in the N2O correction algorithm. Preferably, the specific mass spectrometric behaviour should be established with clean N2O/CO2 mixtures or with air mixtures covering a larger range of N2O concentrations.     

Isometric graphing and multidimensional scaling for reaction-diffusion modeling on regular and fractal surfaces with spatiotemporal pattern recognition

Heterogeneous surface reactions exhibiting complex spatiotemporal dynamics and patterns can be studied as processes involving reaction-diffusion mechanisms. In many realistic situations, the surface has fractal characteristics. This situation is studied by isometric graphing and multidimensional scaling (IGMDS) of fractal surfaces for extracting geodesic distances (i.e., shortest scaled distances that obtain edges of neighboring surface nodes and their interconnections) and the results obtained used to model effects of surface diffusion with nonlinear reactions. Further analysis of evolved spatiotemporal patterns may be carried out by IGMDS because high-dimensional snapshot data can be efficiently projected to a transformed subspace with reduced dimensions. Validation of the IGMDS methodology is carried out by comparing results with reduction capabilities of conventional principal component analysis for simple situations of reaction and diffusion on surfaces. The usefulness of the IGMDS methodology is shown for analysis of complex patterns formed on both regular and fractal surfaces, and using generic nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems following FitzHugh Nagumo and cubic reaction kinetics. The studies of these systems with nonlinear kinetics and noise show that effects of surface disorder due to fractality can become very relevant. The relevance is shown by studying properties of dynamical invariants in IGMDS component space, viz., the Lyapunov exponents and the KS entropy for interesting situations of spiral formation and turbulent patterns.     

Synthesis and antispasmodic activity evaluation of bis-(papaverine) analogues

A new series of N-substituted bis-(tetrahydropapaverine) ring systems have been synthesised in expectation of better antispasmodic activity in comparison with papaverine. The synthesis of the targeted heterocycles is described along with a discussion of their structure activity relationship. The general synthetic methods of bis-(tetrahydropapaverine) analogues involve tetrahydropapaverine, various piperazines, diisocyanates and diisothiocyanates as starting materials. Pharmacological evaluation involves the in vitro antispasmodic activity on a freshly removed guinea pig ileum using a force displacement transducer amplifier connected to a physiograph. Among the analogues synthesized in the present study, N,N'-bis-[2-carbamoyl-1-(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl)-6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolinyl]piperazine (22), was found to be the most potent muscle relaxant (IC(50): 0.31 microM).     

Determination of the singlet state lifetime of dissolved nitrous oxide from high field relaxation measurements

Longitudinal spin relaxation due to modulation of dipolar interactions often limits the development of hyperpolarized magnetic tracers. Recently, it has been demonstrated that transferring spin order to a singlet state significantly increases the polarization lifetimes in systems where nitrous oxide is dissolved in a liquid solvent. Additionally, previous studies have suggested that the longitudinal relaxation of nitrous oxide is largely dominated by the spin-rotation interaction. Models of spin-relaxation under Brownian motion nai?vely predict the angular momentum reorienting correlation time of the spin rotation interaction to be inversely proportional to the viscosity of the solution. This dependence implies the singlet lifetime can be lengthened by increasing the dissolving solvent's viscosity-an extension which is not observed. Our work formulates a model which describes the relaxation of nitrous oxide dissolved in various solvents. We investigate the effect of altering the temperature of the solvent, as well as the effect of varying solute-solvent interactions on the singlet state as well as the longitudinal polarization lifetime. We predict the singlet lifetime for nitrous oxide dissolved in several solvents by fitting rotational and angular momentum correlation times measured at high magnetic field, and relate singlet relaxation to translational diffusion constants.     

Functional K-doping of eumelanin thin films: density functional theory theory and soft x-ray spectroscopy experiments in the frame of the macrocyclic protomolecule model

We demonstrate the possibility to achieve the doping of eumelanin thin films through K(+) incorporation during the electrodeposition of the film. K-doping changes the optical properties of the eumelanin thin films, reducing the energy gap from 1.0 to 0.6 eV, with possible implications for the photophysical properties. We have identified the doping-related occupied and unoccupied electronic states and their spectral weight using resonant photoemission spectroscopy (ResPES) and x-ray absorption at the C and N K-edges (near edge x-ray absorption fine spectroscopy, NEXAFS). All data are consistently interpreted by ab initio calculations of the electronic structure within the frame of the macrocycle model developed for the eumelanin protomolecule. Our analysis puts in evidence the intercalation of K with one specific oligomer (a tetramer composed of one indolequinone and 3 hydroquinone monomers) in correspondence of the nitrogen macrocycle. The predicted variation of the tetramer spacing is also in agreement with the recent x-ray diffraction experiments. The charge donation from K to N and C atoms gives rise to new electronic states at the top of the valence band and in NEXAFS resonances of the unoccupied orbitals. The saturation of the tetramer macrocycles leaves an excess of K that bind to N and C atoms in alternative configurations, as witnessed by the occurrence of additional spectral features in the carbon-related ResPES measurements.